


The Things You See on a Thursday

by rillalicious



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-06 15:13:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8757601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rillalicious/pseuds/rillalicious
Summary: Luna Lovegood has been coming to this pub one Thursday a month for years in order to observe a fascinating phenomenon.





	

Luna Lovegood has occupied this exact seat, in this exact pub, beneath this exact inn, for the third Thursday of every month since she was two years out of Hogwarts. That is, precisely, one hundred sixty-eight Thursdays. Tonight is an anniversary of sorts. 

This seat, this pub, and the inn upstairs hadn't been in her plans at all, but fourteen years ago tonight, she saw something very interesting, and she has been following up on it ever since. 

She had come to interview a man about a mandrake that didn't scream, and instead only vocalized in German lullabies and American show tunes when she noticed them. They hadn't noticed her. They were far too busy gazing at one another. Luna told the mandrake man to contact her office, and arrange an interview with a junior journalist, then twisted her stool to face them and watched with rapt attention.

It was five years in when she realized it was entirely probable that they came here every single Thursday, and not just on the third Thursday of the month, when she had seen them first. 

What creatures of strange habit and repetition they were. 

Still, Luna only returned on the third Thursdays. She surmised they could use their privacy the rest of the month.

Tonight, Harry is different. His hair is tossed up all over his head, not just in one unruly spot. His cheeks are flushed and hollow, as if he is still trying to catch his breath. He enters the pub with the air of a very important wizard who has just done a very important thing. He throws himself into the booth and he waits. 

Draco arrives fifteen minutes later, his face pale with worry, and he is running through the pub. When he reaches their table, he skids across the floor, as if he is not prepared to stop just yet, and catches himself on Harry's arm. His words come in a flurry of anger and relief, and even from her seat clear across the room, Luna can hear most of them. 

"Had to read it in the papers… Why didn't you call… bloody good is this muggle contraption anyway… never listen to Granger!" 

The timbre of his voice grows louder, more unhinged, with every word. Until Harry places a stilling hand on his shoulder and the words halt all at once. 

Harry does not speak loudly. His voice does not carry across the pub. Still, Luna understands the words on his lips as if she has watched him speak them a thousand times. 

"I'm alright. I'm fine. Everything is okay." 

And then it's all a flutter of robes and scarves as Draco flings himself around Harry, tackles him into the booth, and Harry's rough laugh fills the air around Luna's ears even as the rest of the patrons carry on as though nothing remarkable at all has happened. As if this first outright declaration of affection means nothing to any of them. Fourteen years of Thursdays begun at this pub and ending in the room upstairs, and no one else can see the small miracle happening right here in front of their eyes. 

Luna looks up at the bartender and sighs. “People are spiritual beings, Stan, having a human experience.” 

"'Course they are, Ms Lovegood," he says, and he sets her Hungarian Hippogriff in front of her, the copper mug frosted cold. 

She turns her attention back to the men across the pub, watching as Draco takes Harry's hand, practically pulls him to the stairs tonight. With a small bit of sleuthing, she discovered that Draco outright purchased their room nine years ago, after conspicuously renting it for many Thursdays prior. She can imagine the great comfort he finds in having a place that is _theirs_ , when all of the neighbors are transitory. He's ordered the same drink for fourteen years, after all, while Harry changes his order three or four times a year. 

When they've disappeared down to the fading sound of their boots along the upstairs hall, she spins her barstool a turn-and-a-half, then clasps her drink in both hands. 

"Didja see this?" says Stan, and he sets _The Daily Prophet_ in front of her. The headline glaring and bold. 

**_Auror Potter Ends Dark Wizard Standoff with Bold and Dangerous Stunt_**

Though this is the first time Luna has set eyes on the paper, she sips her drink slowly, then smiles at Stan. 

"I did. And it's something magnificent, isn't it?" 

 

{END}


End file.
